1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical connector for accommodating the terminal of an optical fiber for transmitting an optical signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a wire harness has been employed for connection of an auxiliary machine of a motor vehicle. However, with an increase in the number of auxiliary machines and their circuits in recent years, there is a tendency of increasing the noise occurring when an electric signal is transferred. In order to suppress the increase in the noise, an optical fiber communication system has been proposed which employs an optical fiber in a part of the wire harness.
The above optical fiber communication system employs various optical connectors in order to convert an optical signal transmitted from an optical fiber cable into an electric signal and vice versa. Further, the optical fiber communication system employs various optical connectors in order to connect optical fibers to each other.
The optical connector employed to connect the optical fiber cables to each other includes a first housing and a second housing which can be coupled with each other. The first housing includes a ferrule attached to the terminal of one of the optical fibers and a coil spring which is an urging means for urging the ferrule toward the second housing. The second housing includes another ferrule attached to the terminal of the other of the optical fibers and another coil spring which is an urging means for urging the ferrule toward the first housing.
In the optical connector having the configuration described above, when the first and second housing are coupled with each other, the coil springs urge the corresponding ferrules to approach each other so that the ferrules are brought into contact with each other. Then, the ferrules leave each other so that the optical fibers are optically connected to other.
Thus, the optical connector optically connects the optical fibers to each other.
In the conventional optical connector, each of the first housing and the second housing is provided with the coil spring. Therefore, when the first housing and the second housing are to be coupled with each other, the first housing and the second housing must be brought near to each other by the force exceeding the urging force of the above coil spring. Namely, in order to couple the first housing and the second housing with each other, they must be brought near to each other by strong force. This makes it difficult to couple the first housing and the second housing with each other, and hence to connect the optical fiber cables to each other.
Since the first housing and the second housing are provided with the corresponding coil springs, respectively, increased time and labor must be taken, thereby increasing the number of man-hours for assembling the first housing and the second housing.
Further, when these housings are coupled with each other, the ferrules are brought into contact with each other. Therefore, when the coupling and decoupling between these housings are repeated, the ferrules may wear. The wearing of the ferrules may cause the optical axes of the ferrules to deviate from each other, thereby decreasing the transmission efficiency of the optical signal transmitted by these optical fiber cables. Further, since the ferrules are brought into contact with each other, in the worst case, the optical fiber cables may be damaged, thereby further reducing the transmission efficiency of the optical signal.